Scheme to steal $20 million from Navy detailed

Second confession in Glenn Defense Marine Asia scandal

Alex Wisidagama, a former executive of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia, pleaded guilty today (March 18) to participating in a scheme to get the United States to overpay $20 million for supplies and services.

The government has charged that the owner of the Singapore company, Leonard Glenn Francis, cousin of Wisidagama, bribed Navy officials with luxury travel and prostitutes in exchange for information that helped Glenn win hundreds of millions of dollars in Navy contracts.

Wisidagama revealed several tricks he and others used to bilk the Navy, including using fraudulent invoices, offering phony competitive bids, and creating fictitious port authorities with inflated port-tariff rates. This is the second guilty plea in the scam.

Murphyjunk: The Navy men who got the free travel, prostitutes, and luxury living all were high enough on the totem pole to know when a certain ship would be arriving, and what its needs might be. So I think they were decision makers. Best, Don Bauder